The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a heat exchanger and to a heat exchanger assembly.
Sorbent canister heat exchangers may be employed in various applications including, but not limited to, air purifying systems for manned spacecraft and submarines. Such systems remove carbon dioxide from recirculated air so that the air can be re-used for onboard personnel without the need for refitting or repeated resurfacing (as the case may be). When in use, the sorbent canister heat exchangers flow a coolant about a sorbent material such that the sorbent material is maintained at a temperature at which the sorbent material absorbs and desorbs carbon dioxide.
Since space is at a premium on manned spacecraft and submarines, it is often necessary to design sorbent canister heat exchangers to be as small and compact as possible. In these cases, it is often seen that canisters with flat surfaces provide for the most compact design. However, when the canisters are exposed to external loading from, for example, depth charge shock waves or external pressure, the flat surfaces are prone to deformation that is transmitted to the relatively structurally weak heat exchange elements in the canister interiors. This leads to damage and possible failure of the canisters.